CinderMax
by Ferrero
Summary: This is basically Maximum Ride in the Cinderella universe. Pretty AU. Instead of the Cinderella characters, there'll be Maximum Ride characters instead! Pretty obvious, but yeah. FAX.
1. Meet the Prince and the Peasant

**A/N This story is basically Maximum Ride characters in the Cinderella story.**** Read a fan fi****c****tion about Harry Potter in the Cinderella universe and thought it might be ****c****ute for Maximum Ride too. )**

**Prince Fang, ****16, ****17**

**Cinderella Max, 17**

**Stepmother Marian Janssen**

**Stepsister 1 ****Lis****s****a****, 18**

**Stepsister 2 Tess, 19**

**Foreign Princess Ella, 15**

**--------------------------------------**

**Other characters:**

**Max's brothers:**

**Iggy****, 16 (haven't reached his birthday)**

**Gasman, 11**

**Max's sisters:**

**Nudge,**** 14**

**Angel, 9**

**Reviews please!**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_Siblings, Maximum, __Iggy__, Nudge, the Gasman and Angel, lost their father two years ago of __c__olon __c__an__c__er after he remarried a ri__c__h lady who had two daughters, __Lis__s__a__ and Tess. All three of them are stingy, proud, and vain. They make the five youngest o__cc__upants of the house do all the housework, while they spend hours primping themselves for no one in parti__c__ular. The siblings' mother died of grief after her youngest __c__hild, Angel, got taken by the S__c__hool, where they graft into inno__c__ent infants DNA of other animals, just __like the others before her.__ Their father managed to help them es__c__ape__ when Max's tenth birthday was near__, and taught them__ the __necessary skill__ needed in everyday life._

* * *

"Nicholas, you will _have_ to find a bride by your coming birthday," the queen said exasperatedly. The seventeen year old prince, Nicholas, twiddled with the hem of his robes.

"I know, mother, but I don't want to get married. Why can't I just lead a country myself? Is it compulsory to have a woman beside you all the time? I mean, I don't even have time to get to know them properly! You never let me out of the castle! And by the way, just call me Nick."

"Son, we've been through this many times. You _cannot_ lead a country by yourself. It _is_ compulsory to have a wife. It's the law. And you _cannot_ be called Nick," the king said strictly.

Nick retorted, "What if I said I wanted to marry a common peasant or something?"

"Then we _will_ let you marry her," said the king gravely, having thought everything out, "Your mother and I have agreed to hold a ball in your honour and invite every young lady fifteen and above. If you cannot make your choice by the end of the night, you will marry Princess Ella from our neighbouring country, thus making us one. Do you understand?"

"Yes, father," the young prince whispered to no one in particular.

"Good," his father roared, "the preparations for the ball will begin tomorrow and it will be held a week later on the night before your birthday."

Nick sighed and flopped onto his bed and shut his eyes, trying to bring up the memory of the only time he had met a person of the opposite sex other than his mother or the vicious kitchen cook.

He was only ten, but he decided to explore life outside the castle. He had made friends with one of the servant boys, who lent him some ordinary clothes to wear instead of his rich robes.

He remembered starting to skip the moment he was out of the castle grounds, taking in everything that sang with a melodious voice and had vibrant color. He couldn't understand why ordinary people wanted to live in that dull palace of his.

He plucked wild berries and popped them into his mouths, treaded on the ground in the early days of spring, and made a friend from the outside world who looked about the same age as he.

"Hello," the girl said brightly, waving a hand full of ripe berries she had plucked.

"Hi," Nick remembered saying awkwardly, not knowing how to react around normal people.

The girl laughed it off. "I'm Max. Who are you? I've never seen you here before, and I'm usually the only one who bothers coming into this thick undergrowth and trees to collect berries. Are you new here?"

"Yeah, I'm new here," he said, scratching his head slightly, wondering whether he should reveal his name.

"I'll just call you Fang," said Max decisively.

"Fang?" he had asked, nonplussed. "Why?"

"Have you ever looked into a mirror?"

"No. My house is full of them, but I don't really bother much about looks."

"I can tell!" Max giggled. "Well, you've got really sharp teeth that look pretty menacing. If I had seen those on a full grown adult, I think I'd scoot immediately."

He grinned and bared his teeth, trying to look like a vampire thirsty for blood, but failing horribly. He tried to smoothen his black hair but to no avail. They stuck up in whichever direction they pleased, which wasn't really a pretty sight.

Then he chased her about, flapping his arms like a bat would when flying. Max shrieked and laughed heartily, then slowly, he joined in the laughing fest.

They lay on their backs, smiling lazily, and squinted in the bright sunlight, looking at each object in detail, a comfortable silence settling over them. Max studied him closely.

"I think I've seen you somewhere before…" she said, trailing off. Suddenly, she stiffened and shot up.

"Sorry, but I have to go now!" said Max hastily, cold sweat spouting all over her face. He wondered what had suddenly overcome her.

Instinctively, his hand flew to his back and started feeling about. It was well hidden. He sighed with relief. Thank goodness Max hadn't seen them. He watched as she left the forest brisk walking so quickly she was almost running.

As much as he didn't want her to leave, he thought that it was a relief, as his father came riding to him with a worried look on his face which quickly changed to anger when he saw his son, "What do you think you were doing, dressed like that! We've been looking for you for hours! Return to your room. You've been grounded."

The young prince looked at his father and then, not allowing a single emotion to show through, shook his head in defeat and went straight to his room the moment his father set him down from his horse in the castle grounds.

And that was the last time anybody ever saw an emotion reach his eyes, much less his face. Nothing, not even a smile, had passed his face for the last six-almost-seven years.

He couldn't stand letting people know he was disappointed and pity him.

* * *

Meanwhile at the other end of the country…

"Max!" Lissa snapped. "Get me my tea! And I want it _hot_ at exactly sixty degrees Celsius!"

Max grumbled, "Fine." That was the second time _Prin__c__ess_ Lissa had ordered her around _just_ to get _tea_. On her way down to the kitchen, she met her brothers, Iggy and the Gasman, carrying two large pails of water each.

"You would think they had at least some heart to not let a blind guy go all the way down that bumpy road carrying _two_ large pails full of water. At least Gazzy here has his sight. This sucks," Iggy complained. Gazzy shot him a bright smile, which was as usual wasted like the many death glares Max had given him countless of times ever since their father died.

Remembering, Gazzy narrated, "Ig, I'm grinning like a Cheshire cat." Iggy scowled.

"With people like them," Max started, "you can never tell. Someday we'll probably have to sleep in the streets." She gestured at her too-tight jeans and too-baggy shirt, which were both heavily made of patchwork.

"Flight tonight?" the Gasman asked.

"Flight tonight," Max confirmed. Iggy nodded.

Then a shrill cry issued from above, "Max! My tea!" Max glared in the rough direction of her completely non-blood related stepsister and hurried to the kitchen, grumbling under her breath.

After plopping in a generous amount of tealeaves and watering them with boiling water, Max left the teacup on the counter and sat on a tattered chair in the kitchen, starting to dwell on the memory of the time when she met a weird boy in the forest nearby while collecting berries.

She was stuffing herself with berries from the forest and putting some in her basket three months after her father had 'kidnapped' her from the School when she spotted him. He looked around the same age as her.

She lifted a hand full of berries and waved it, calling, "Hello!"

The boy just looked at her like he had never seen a girl before and said, "Hi."

Seeing him this awkward, she lost her fear of strangers at that moment and said, "I'm Max. Who are you? I've never seen you before and I'm usually the only one who bothers coming into this thick undergrowth and trees to collect berries. Are you new here?"

The boy scratched his head, saying, "Yeah, I'm new here."

Max, as if sensing his reluctance to say his name, spoke up, "I'll just call you Fang."

He looked blur. "Fang? Why?"

"Have you ever looked into a mirror?"

**"**No. My house is full of them, but I don't really bother much about looks."

Oh, she could tell that alright. "I can tell!" she said, laughing slightly. "Well, you've got really sharp teeth that look pretty menacing. If I had seen those on a full grown adult, I think I'd scoot immediately."

Fang grinned, showing his teeth and looked very much like a bat that fed on blood, tried flattening his hair, gave up, then flapped his arms like wings madly and chased her.

She gave a shrill laugh and shot to a side, running like she's never done in her life.

Then they fell on their backs on the green grass, eyes roaming the forest and scanning every single detail of every single thing.

She looked at him closely, finding him familiar. "I think I've seen you somewhere before…" Then she stiffened and her eyes widened.

She remembered him. When she was five, a cage was dumped beside hers and in it was a boy with black hair which covered his face most of the time. A few days later, a whitecoat came to his cage, unlatched the door and whispered something into his ear.

Max saw his face light up and a smile graced his face. The first smile she's ever seen on him. He followed the whitecoat as he led him out of the door of the room. From then on, he had never been seen in the School. She supposed that he either got killed or was in a room all by himself, hoping very much it was the latter and not the former.

"Sorry, but I have to go now!" she exclaimed, not being able to face another mutant like her whom she never got to know at all.

Faintly, she saw him reach for his back and feeling it carefully, watching her flee from the forest.

Suddenly, she jerked from her day dream by the thought of the tea. She rushed towards it, then groaned as she felt the teacup. The contents had turned cold.

Sighing and shaking her head slightly, she dumped the tea into the sink and the tealeaves into the black trash bag beside the sink. She'll just have to make another one then.

Being the stepsister of two vain idiots was tiring.

* * *

**A/N Sorry.**** Long time no post stories. **


	2. Notifications and Invitations

**A/N This is kind of crazy but…well, never mind.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"Father!" Nick hollered. The rustling of the cloths and decorations was killing him. He didn't understand how the decorators managed to not puke while decorating the room with frilly pink cloth for a few hours straight. The sight or sound of them already made him sick.

For Pete's sake, they were pink _and_ frilly. And horribly revolting.

"Yes?" the king replied, wincing slightly.

"Can you tell them _not_ to put up _any_ decorations near my room? Just in the hall only, please? They're really going to drive me up the wall soon."

His father sighed. "Whatever you wish, son. I'm hoping to hold my grandchild in the next two years or so."

Nick tried to hold back the spit that was about to shoot out from his mouth. Him? Have a kid when he's only nineteen?! The thought's completely absurd! He didn't even want a wife!

"Father, you mad or what?" he said.

The king shrugged, then said, "Your wife is your choice. So's anything to do with the ball."

"Well, then can I cancel it?"

"No." So much for 'so's anything to do with the ball'.

"Fine," the prince said, folding his arms in and staring off into deep space. There is one in a million, billion, trillion, gazillion chance that he won't marry Princess Ella from their next door country. "Since I'm never the one who gets a say in _anything_," he grumbled to himself.

His father patted him on the shoulder and walked out of the room, shaking his head with some kind of disbelieve.

Then suddenly, he turned to face Nick again. "The invitations will be sent out tomorrow. By the day after that, every young lady from every household in this country will be notified of the ball."

Nick groaned and buried his head in the (too) richly decorated pillow of red silk and gold velvet. Too royal for his taste, but his parents would never let him own a pillow which is simply a cotton cover stuffed full with dawn feathers.

Yeah, he would like that. Simple.

He lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, again decorated richly. It seems like these royal people are _obsessed_ with decorating things. Even his laptop's screen's surroundings just had to be decorated so richly it was as if he was looking into a photo frame. A very interesting photo frame which consists of a minimized version of his blog. Which was, duh, attracting worldwide attention.

And he didn't like it one bit.

His tagbox had reached its limit in one minute and gone haywire the next, so he never really bothered putting in a tagbox after the first two tries. He completely gave up after that.

Sighing, he shuffled to his laptop and pressed the 'on' button. The screen blinked to life and after a few seconds, he typed in the password and he was in.

The laptop was his only way of escaping the terrible prince life. Whoever thought of the idea that being princes was so cool? Yeah, you have the money, but you lack everything that you need. Friends, company, freedom, and so many more.

He plugged in the mouse and clicked on the small icon representing 'Internet Explorer 7.0'. Because he was prince, he gets the latest things in technology advancements.

A new window opened, then immediately showed the home page; The laptop was his only way of escaping his life, but also another way to fame.

He logged on, clicked 'new post', then started typing.

**Title: Life ****sux**** (his father would kill him for typing that)**

**I don't believe this. My father is holding a stupid ball ****just 4 me 2 find a wife****. All u girls out there, swooning like, I ****dunno****, no hope 4 u ladies. I'm not gonna bother 2 even go down to the hall. I'll be dragged there. ****By my father n mother.**

**Most probably I won't bother taking a single look anyone of u n would end up marrying **_**Princess**_** Ella, my next country ****neighbour**

**They're for****c****ing me 2 find a wife n then get married n then have kids, all within the next 2 years. I mean, a kid?! I'll be only 19 4 Pete's sake!**

**Anybody want 2 take my position as prince? I'm sick of it.****Trust ****me;**** you don't want to be me.**

**Gosh! I'm a freaking prince! ****Who ****noes**** whether I'll ****ev****a**** b normal**** all**

**P.S. the ball's only 4 ****ppl**** (gals, 2 b exa****c****t) 15 years n above****, hopefully no one above 17 would ****c****ome****. I hope ****u'r**** not ****c****oming.**

**-Nick**

* * *

"Ooh!" Tess exclaimed. "The prince is holding a ball to pick his wife!" 

"Mom! Take a look at this!" Lissa shouted, then started reading the latest blog post of the prince out loud. Max was _miles_ away and she could hear her. She could give Nudge a run for her position as 'motormouth'.

The two dimwits looked so excited that Max accidentally on purpose neglected to emphasize on the 'no hope for you ladies' and 'I'm not gonna bother to even go down to the hall' and 'hopefully no one above seventeen would come' and 'I hope you're not coming' part. Let them be, she would like to see their expressions when they re-read that post again.

Oh yes, the prince of their country has a blog. Can you believe that? Prince, blog, somehow they don't fit… yeah, but anyway, this country was weird, and its rulers were even weirder. The prince included.

But anyway, the prince is such a pessimist. He has something against life, Max can promise.

The sisters were going hyper about the ball while she's standing there wondering what a big hoo-ha is going to happen if the prince really _did_ marry Princess Ella from their neighbouring country. Wouldn't that be cool? It'd dash all dreams of both those idiots.

Nudge and Angel poked their head out from the kitchen, where they were helping Iggy cook. Gazzy was busy setting a table for three, washing and polishing the cutlery till they were completely spotless and can mirror your reflection perfectly and preparing the plates for Iggy to place the dishes in.

Then there's Max herself. Well, she was still mopping the floor. She had swept it already. You would think they'd get her a vacuum machine to clean a house _that_ big. But no, all they gave her was a broom and a dustpan and they expect her to clean the whole house until it shone like the morning sun in summer.

"Max?" Nudge asked, "Is the prince really holding a ball?"

"Yeah," Max sighed, "What are you leading to?"

"Can you go?" Angel asked sweetly. Max choked. Her? Go to a ball? You've got to be kidding. "After all, you're the only legal candidate from our family."

Oh yeah, that's right. You can eliminate Iggy and Gazzy. They were not and still aren't _ladies_. Then you can eliminate both Nudge and Angel. They were below fifteen. Nudge was fourteen. Such a waste. And who's left standing?

Yours truly, Max.

Suddenly, Angel piped up, "Max? If Marian won't let you go, I'll help you."

She smiled at her weakly, not being able to even think of being seen in a freaking dress. Who knows what Iggy and Gazzy might say?

And when Angel says 'help you', it usually involves controlling other people's minds. Something Max would rather she not do to Marian. Their stepmother had a temper that she would rather not temper with.

"Max, really, I'll help you go," Angel repeated. "I cross my heart."

She stared at her. Where on earth did Angel learn such a phrase? Nudge was for once keeping her mouth shut. The place was absolutely silent save the irritating yakking of the two ultra-uber-vain idiots about the upcoming ball.

----------------------------------------------------

The next day, Tess shoved Max into the living room to collect the mail. Among the bills was a grand looking one addressed to 'every lady 15 and above in the household'.

Curious, though she already knew what was inside, she opened the white envelop and took out its contents.

**Dear ladies of this ****c****ountry,**

**Our king and queen are holding a ball to pi****c****k a wife for the ****c****rown prin****c****e, Ni****c****holas, by that night.**

**Date: April 15, 2007**

**Venue: The ****c****astle (you will be led personally to the ****h****all by a ****doorman)**

**Time: 20:00 (8 p.m.) – 00:00 (12 midnight)**

**Attire: Ball dress**

**Offi****c****ial Advisor of the King,**

**Aouri****Gou****c****hiy**

She rolled her eyes at the 'Attire'. Of course it was a ball dress. What else? Rags? Huh, that would be a ball for _her_ then.

"Max!" Tess' voice rang out, "Why are you taking so long?"

Quickly, Max stuffed the letter back into the envelop and brought it, plus the bills, into the dining room and lay them before Marian, Tess and Lissa.

Her mind was quickly changing.

She might just decide to go to the ball after all. Who knows, it might be fun.

* * *

**A/N La ****la****la****la****la**** Guess the ending.**


	3. Fairy Godmother of Mutants

**A/N Thanks for the reviews! I really needed them for a booster!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Oh my goodness! We're invited!" the two evil stepsisters shrieked, overflowing with happiness. Marian walked up to them and said calmly, "Don't get too excited. You have yet to get your dresses, makeup, accessories, and many more." Even though Marian had a face of stone, Max could tell that inside, she was grinning, probably thinking _Ahh__! My darling __c__hildren might marry the prin__c__e!_

Well, even though the prince was weird, he'd never sink _that_ low as to marry one of those vain fools. The sisters were screaming, hugging each other, quarrelling about who's going to snag the prince (which was probably neither of them, Max mused), debating on what to buy, and etcetera.

The list was so long that you'd need a piece of paper the length of the circumference of the Earth to write down everything they wanted. Even if your hand writing was as small as an ant, the sisters would find a way to fill up the rest of the paper.

Talk about money wasters.

Suddenly, Angel stepped out from behind her bedroom door. She shared a bedroom with Nudge and Max, and the bedroom was freaking small. "Marian, you will let Max go to the ball which is in one week time."

Max stared at her. The girl had a scary look on her face, and Max could tell she was controlling Marian's mind.

"Angel, you really don't need to—," Max started. Angel just waved her off continued brainwashing Marian. If she ever finds out about this…

"Okay," Marian said in a daze. Max goggled at Angel. She wasn't going to a freaking ball in a freaking dress! Though the thought might be nice, but she'll lose her reputation as a tomboy forever!

Angel then looked at me, "You're going."

Max glared at her, and though she's not under her powers or anything, she said, "Fine." Angel smiled angelically at her and returned to her room.

-----------------------------------------------------

The next week or so was a nightmare.

The ugly stepsisters kept pushing Max and Nudge to wash and help them primp themselves, get crushed under the weight loads of expensive dresses, bumping into people because they couldn't see past the many packages, almost die of exhaustion, and help them do manicure.

It was amazing how they can still look so ugly after the makeup and dresses.

Just two days before the ball, Angel grabbed the Maximum Ride card, which their father had left to them, and went shopping with Nudge for a dress for their 'mother'. Max, who didn't know about it at first, almost killed them for spending a hundred bucks on a dress.

The dress was a periwinkle blue and reached all the way to her ankle, almost grazing the floor. The sleeves were made of leave shaped cloths overlapping each other, each one a different color from the other. It wasn't revealing, and Max's back would be well hidden. The dress had a v-neck which wasn't very low. Overall, Max looked like a sky fairy (minus the almost transparent wings) in it.

Angel whistled and Nudge squealed.

When Angel and Nudge had left, Max secretly cut two slits in the back of the dress, then laid it on her bed before rummaging through her cupboard for a hanger.

That night, Max lay on her bed trying to get some rest from the tiring day of preparing her stepsisters for the ball, thinking of her periwinkle blue dress.

-----------------------------------------------------

Finally, the night came, amidst crazy, hysterical ranting of the stepsisters, Max, Nudge, and even Angel, helped them get ready for the ball as early as one in the afternoon immediately after their bath.

Angel kept using her mind control to keep their mouths shut, but it exhausted her so she gave up. Max had pins in her mouth, trying hem up the dresses for the two skinny sisters (who were obsessed with being slim to the point of malnutrition) who were moving about every second and she screamed at them once, unable to keep her cool.

Nudge was doing the nails for them, but kept taking the nail polish off because the sisters' fingers could never keep still. Finally, after hours of getting them ready, Max returned to her room. She glanced at the dress hanging innocently in the closet, then took it out and put it on.

She took a hair brush and ran it through her hair, making sure it was straight, then put on a pair of old, blue ballet flats. She left her hair undone, since she had practically no experience in hairdos.

Then she applied a thin layer of lip gloss and mascara.

When she felt that she was done, she turned the handle of the door and walked out, absolutely beautiful. Nudge said, "You still

Gazzy sucked in a bunch of air and whispered something into Iggy's ear quickly. Iggy snapped to attention and looked in the rough direction of Max, declaring, "Gasser says you're stunning, I don't believe him." Max elbowed him in the ribs and he shut up.

Nudge, Iggy and Gazzy scooted to their rooms and slammed their doors shut. Slowly, I walked down the stairs with Angel at my side.

The two stepsisters faced me and started complaining, "Mom! How could you let someone like _her_ go to the ball?"

"Mom! Get her out of here!"

"Mom! She's spoiling our chance to get the prince all to ourselves!"

Angel made them shut up. All three of them were unaware of Angel's power of mind control, mind reading, the ability to talk to fish, and more. In fact, they were unaware of the fact that the parentless sibling's had powers.

Angel stared scarily at Marian. "You said you'd let Max go to the ball."

Marian stared back blankly. "Yes."

Angel looked at me happily, then bounced up the stairs back into our room. Marian shook her head as if to clear something and said, "Girls we're leaving now."

The stepsisters glared at Max, then took a step toward her. "The color does looks nice on you, Max, but no one's ever going to see you in this dress again."

Max's eyes widened and she stepped back, stumbling on a stray object. "No, no, no, no!" she whispered frantically under her breath. She couldn't let the kids hear her. She just couldn't.

The sisters tore at her and her dress, ripping the expensive material used to make it, ruffling her silky blond hair till she looked like she had just received an electric shock.

Finally, the sisters, satisfied with how Max looked, walked to their mother and stuck their noses high into the air, getting into the Mercedes waiting at their doorsteps.

Almost crying, Max stumbled into the kitchen and shut the door, sitting on a stool before the embers of the already put out fire and wept. She had no idea how she was supposed to return to the kids wearing a dress which was near rags.

Max stared into the embers and whispered to herself, "I'm a nightmare, a disaster." **(A/N: ****This a**** line from one of my ****favourite**** songs by Simple Plan: Me Against the World)**. Then she brought up the memory of her only friend.

How she wished she could see him again, but he was another mutant, someone else like her, and he might even be back at the School being tested on right then.

She felt her eyes fill with tears, shedding them slowly so they didn't overflow.

Ten minutes passed in near silence, only the laughs of the kids upstairs could be heard.

"I wonder if Max is having fun time now," Angel said.

"I wonder if she had been asked to dance," said Gazzy.

"I wonder if she had managed to snag a dance with Prince Nicholas!" Nudge cried gaily.

"I wonder if she's sitting in a gloomy corner with a glum and sour look on her face because nobody had asked her to dance, "Iggy mused. Someone swatted his arm.

"Iggy! Don't be mean!" Angel exclaimed.

He had hit the jackpot. She _was_ sitting in a gloomy corner with a glum and sour look on her face, and nobody had asked her to dance because she wasn't even at the ball!

Max made a mug of hot chocolate (even though it was spring) and returned to her stool, sitting in complete silence, her eyes leaking. She wished he had a friend to sit by her and comfort her, someone who would not laugh at her.

Someone who would just accept her as she was. Someone who would like her.

Max fingered the frayed ends of the dress absentmindedly, then took a sip of her hot chocolate, passing the next half an hour or so in the same boring pattern.

She scanned the embers, which had almost ceased glowing by then, and sighed again.

Maybe she should just return to her room and tell the kids that she couldn't make it. But she didn't know how to face them, how to tell them that she hadn't even gone to the ball, how her dress almost got ripped to shreds.

How she was a failure. How she had failed them.

Suddenly, she heard a crack like a whip from behind her. "What the—," Max said and turned around.

Standing there behind her was a lady with a kindly face, wearing a sparkly purple dress which reached her knees with a wand in her hand.

"I'm your fairy godmother," the lady said.

Do mutants even have fairy godmothers?! Max thought, shocked.

* * *

**A/N Ha ****ha****! I like the last line!**


	4. Of Feathers and Balls

**A/N ****This**** is who's playing Fairy Godmother…**

**Fairy Godmother: Valencia Martinez**

**I know she's Ella's mother, but I couldn't find any other good ladies to play her.**

**Chapter 4**

Nick sighed heavily and slumped in the throne between his parents'. A doorman came up to him and said, "Your honor, it's seven fifty-nine. Soon to be eight."

"Open the doors," Nick said glumly.

The doorman nodded and opened the door of the hall, where countless of girls had gathered, ditching their doormen and coming up by themselves.

A flood of girls swarmed the hall. Nick took a look at them and groaned. They gathered at the foot of his throne in a very unorganized 'straight' line.

The first girl presented herself. She had buck teeth and millions of freckles. "Hi," she said in a hi-pitched giggle. "I'm Gwendolyn." She curtsied and ran off giggling like an idiot.

The next girl came forth and said, "Hello." She had a deep voice and was plump and had the figure of a watermelon. "My name is Penelope." Nick sighed and glanced at his parents, who both had looks of disgust on their faces. And whose bright idea was it to hold a ball? Nick thought sarcastically.

Then two girls shoved forward. They were so skinny that a car tire would just slip down if put over their heads. In fact, they looked like prisoners of war from World War II.

"Good evening!" they said very quickly, their voices filled with enthusiasm. "I'm Tess," taller one said. "I'm Lissa," the other one said, "you look dashing!" Nick took a glance at each of them and groaned. He had heard that dashing parts a million times already. He hated these kinds of girls. No mind of their own that he could see

The sight of the bimbos of girls was nauseating. He looked at his father and shot him an I-told-you look, to which his father just glanced at the line of girls and nodded.

Nick looked at the girls again.

The ball was going to be the death of him.

-------------------------------------------------------

Her fairy godmother was slim, but not as slim as Tess or Lissa, who were skinny and not at all slim. She had long brown hair that graced her delicate features perfectly. Her eyes were a warm brown, just like hers.

"I'm Valencia, just call me Val," she said to the shell shocked Max. "Now, why were you crying?"

"I couldn't go to the ball," Max murmured softly. "I let them down." Her fairy godmother shook her head slightly and said, "Come one, don't be like this."

Max just stared at her.

"It's a very special day for someone. I want you to witness it," her fairy godmother, Val said. Max snorted, wiping her tears, "I know it _is _a very special day for someone."

The lady in purple looked surprised. "You do?"

"Well, duh, it's the prince's special day. It's his _birthday_," Max stated as if it were the most obvious thing, which, come to think of it, _was_ the most obvious thing.

Her fairy godmother just shook her head and smiled. "Nope, it's not his special day. Well, it might just be, but it is someone else's special day."

"Well, if you're talking about those two ugly toothpicks, forget it."

"No, it's not theirs. It is compulsory that you go," Val insisted. Max looked at her and sighed. "Alright, I'll go. But not in these." She gestured at her torn dress.

Val smiled. "Of course not! Now, get me a toy car, and two toy soldiers." That wasn't hard. The kids were in her room so she could just go to Iggy and Gazzy's room, which were full of both toy cars and toy soldiers.

She grabbed a limousine and two unarmed guards and laid them before Val. The fairy godmother smiled, and brought the objects out into the garden. Then she tapped each one of them with her wand. The model limousine grew to life size, and the two soldiers were transformed into human sized objects, which became alive after a second tap. One was the doorman, the other was the chauffer.

Then Val turned to Max and studied her. "Ah huh!" she exclaimed. "I know just what fits you!" She waved her wand and a bright light embraced Max, slowly lifting her off the ground, and when they lowered her back down, she was wearing a modest pristine white dress which covered her back as well as the periwinkle one did. Let's just say that the white dress was a carbon copy of the periwinkle one, except for the bottom, which was laced with puffy white gauze and it _did_ graze the floor.

Then Max felt her hair twisting itself into a hairdo. Though she didn't know what it was, she thought she looked fantastic when she looked into a mirror Val had passed which she had conjured out of thin air.

Suddenly, Max asked, "Do you think you could get me a mask?" Val looked surprised, but complied nonetheless. Max put on the white mask and grinned at Val, "Now do you think you could cut two slits at the back of it?"

Val gave her a knowing smile and did that.

She then told Max, "My magic doesn't last forever. It ends at twelve sharp, so be back by then." Val looked at her watch, "It's almost nine, and you have about three hours. Bye!"

Max looked at her and smiled, "Thank you!"

The doorman opened the car door for her and she leapt in, waving to Val as the car drove off. Val smiled and waved back, glad that she had done her part.

------------------------------------------------

Nick sat at the throne, not bothering to move an inch. For the past one hour, he was simply staring at the door of the hall, thinking of nothing in particular.

The girls were enjoying themselves, twirling around with their friends and casting occasional glances at him.

Suddenly, the door opened. Nick was annoyed, but only for a second. A girl dressed in white stepped into the hall and it went silent. Enchanted by her beauty, Nick, for the first time since the ball started, got off his throne. He walked toward her and asked for a dance.

The girl looked shocked, smiled coyly and said, "Okay." He led her to the dance floor. This girl was different. Her mask hid almost half her face, but her beauty penetrated it. This girl had a mind of her own. If he had ever asked any other girl to dance, they would start shrieking 'yes!' all about and giggle crazily. This girl was more in control of herself, and he liked her the moment he set eyes upon her.

He placed an arm around her waist and the other clasped her hand tightly in his. She smiled shyly and snaked an arm around his neck. He could feel something beneath her dress which was not a bare back, but he just waved off the thought and looked at the beauty before him.

All around them, murmurs were growing louder and louder. Nick, unable to stand it, led the girl in white to the balcony, where they could have some privacy and where the music could still be heard. His father's advisor followed them and sealed all the entrances to the balcony, so the prince and his mysterious guest could dance in peace.

"What's your name?" Nick asked, but the girl kept strangely quiet, and sensing her discomfort, he launched another question.

"Never mind. How old are you?" He was dying to know more about her.

"Seventeen. Two months two days older than you, to be exact." She was older than him, yet shorter, but pretty tall for a girl at about five foot eight, and he was pretty tall for a boy at six feet tall.

"Do you have any siblings?"

The girl made a face. He smiled, for the first time in almost seven years.

This was the kind of girl he liked; free to voice her thoughts, not caring what people thought of her. "I have four siblings. They don't usually get on my nerves. And I have two non-blood related stepsisters who are toothpicks. _They_ are the ones who get on my nerves."

"Are your stepsisters Tess and Lissa?"

The girl looked shocked, recovered quickly and said, "Yeah, how did you get to know them?"

"Oh, they were pushing to see who could get to me first. Kind of intimidating, if you get what I mean. They look like they just came back from a hike in Africa."

The girl laughed again, making his heart soar, "That's never going to happen. I highly doubt that they'll go on a hike, let alone one in Africa! You'll be lucky if you ever saw them in a place which isn't air conditioned!"

The rest of the ball passed in the same fashion. He asks the questions and she answers, both opening up to the other party more and more.

_Dong._

Suddenly, the palace clock struck twelve.

_Dong._

The girl broke out of his arms and glanced around nervously, almost fearfully.

_Dong._

Then she burst through the sealed exits to the hall and dashed out.

_Dong._

Nick chased after her, not knowing whether he would be able to catch up.

_Dong._

He caught a swish of a white dress at the entrance of the hall.

_Dong._

He raced an imaginary friend out of the hall, trying to follow her.

_Dong._

Panting slightly, he muttered to himself, "Tell me this isn't a Cinderella situation…"

_Dong._

He was now in the entrance hall, and trying to keep pace or outrun her.

_Dong._

Suddenly, a white object caught his eye.

_Dong._

He sprinted down the entrance steps after it.

_Dong._

Stopping in his tracks, he looked around frantically.

_Dong._

The clock had struck twelve times, and had finally gone silent.

It was indeed a repeat of a Cinderella incident. When he got to the foot of the steps, he spotted a feather with a brown top and white bottom, which was flecked with random brown spots.

His father caught up with him, panting heavily, then his mother came, sweating profusely in her grand dress.

He looked at his father.

"She's like me," he whispered, staring at the feather in his hand.

"What?" his father asked, still not registering much, just recovering from the shock. His son, running after a girl, when just three hours or so he had denied wanting a women by his side.

"She's like me," Nick repeated.

"And how is that?" his mother asked, still trying to catch her breath.

"She can fly," he said.

"Anyone can fly. By plane," the king said, annoyed.

Nick shook his head. "You don't understand."

He looked up at the sky, at the stars, which seemed like they were winking playfully at him, drawing him towards them.

"She has wings," he whispered, then took off, his black wings barely seen against the night sky.

* * *

**A/N ****How's**** the revelation?**


	5. Seeing Backs After Backs

**A/N I'm not really familiar with this fairytale, I don't really like Cinderella, if you ask. I prefer Puss in Boots or Donkey Skin.**

**C****hapter 5**

The moment she was at the steps, she unfolded her wings and took off, forgetting her limousine and what Iggy or Gazzy might say when they find out that one of their cars and two of their soldiers were missing.

She pulled her mask off and threw it down, just as it turned to nothing and the dress became the torn, periwinkle blue one. Her hairdo came off, and she let her hair trail behind her as she used her super speed to get home quickly.

She flew in through her bedroom window and landed gracefully in the middle of the room. Seeing both Nudge and Angel asleep, she quickly pulled off her dress, stuff it into her closet, changed into a comfortable pajamas and crawled into her bed, clutching at the memory of dancing with the prince.

She convinced herself that she'll never see him again, but still couldn't come to terms that she had in fact felt something for the dark haired boy…

---------------------------------------------

He rose with each down stroke, trying to get away from everything.

He had been taken to a place where they graft DNA of other animals into human babies at birth, been grafted into a DNA of another animal, and returned him to his parents. Two years later, they took him back. They had grafted into him DNA of that of a bird's, and wanted to do some experiments on him. He was a freak, and it was all because of the stupid scientists.

Just after his fifth birthday, his cage was dumped beside one which contained a girl with blond hair of about his age. A few days later, a scientist came up to him and unlatched his door, whispering, "You're going home."

He had grinned and followed the scientist out of the room and down a corridor, where his anxious parents were. "Mama!" he remembered saying, and his mother hugged him tightly. They had vowed never to give the School away and paid a hefty sum to get him back. And most importantly, they wanted him back even though they knew he had wings.

After flying for what seemed like hours, he landed in the forest where he had met Max, another girl with blond hair (and ironic, so was the girl whom he had danced with that night), and laid down to sleep, knowing it was going to be a very long night…

-----------------------------------------------

He returned to the palace the next day, disheveled with leaves stuck in his hair. Immediately, he went to have a bath. He told his father he wanted to find the girl, and his father nodded his head and asked the royal scribe (who didn't really write but use a computer) to come forth. "Tell him what you want on the notice," his father said.

"Yes, father." Nick turned to the scribe, "This might sound a little bit sick, but I want to see their backs." The scribe looked at him, obviously shocked, but keyed something into the computer anyway.

When it was done, the notice looked like this:

**Prin****c****e Ni****c****holas wants to find the girl who had dan****c****ed with him the previous night.**

**He and his right hand man will be visiting ea****c****h household in the ****c****ountry to find the girl. All a girl has to do to prove she is the girl Prin****c****e Ni****c****holas had dan****c****ed with on the night of the ball is to show him her ba****c****k. He will de****c****ide whether she is the ****one**** or not**

**Royal S****c****ribe,**

**Kris ****Pinta****c****o**

**-------------------------------------------------**

Max lay on her bed, trying to block out Nudge, Angel, Iggy and Gazzy's voices with the pillow. They were discussing about what had happened (or their questions) at the ball.

"Did you dance with the prince?" Nudge asked enthusiastically.

"Did you even dance?" Iggy asked, bored. He received two smacks on the arm by both Nudge and Angel, who turned to glare at him.

"I heard there was this girl dressed all in white complete with a mask who the prince was totally smitten with. He's giving out orders to find her," Angel said thoughtfully. At that, Max stiffened.

"Really?" Gazzy asked. "Pity it wasn't you, Max."

Through the pillow, Max said, "And _why_ is it a pity?"

"I dunno," Gazzy shrugged, "I just thought that if you married the prince then the sisters might get jealous. That'll be payback for the years of torture they gave us."

"And what makes you think I'd marry him?" Max snapped back.

"C'mon, Max. Be a sport. And touché much?" Gazzy asked. Max just grumbled, but Angel suddenly shrieked, "Oh my gosh! Max!"

Max groaned. "Softer, kiddo. Don't want the sisters to know." In fact, she didn't want the rest of the flock to know either. It'd be so embarrassing. The rest of the flock stared at Angel.

"She danced with the prince the whole night!" Angel said excitedly. The flocked stared at Max like she was some exhibit in a bird park. Then Angel's brows furrowed in confusion. "Why were you in white? I thought the dress we bought you was a periwinkle blue."

Max sighed and tried to block Angel out, but she managed to get in anyway. "The sisters tore your dress?" she asked, shocked. Then she concentrated even more. "And then your fairy godmother called Val came and gave you a white dress and a mask?"

Max took the pillow off her head and nodded. "It's the return of the Cinderella! That'll explain my missing car and Gazzy's missing soldiers," Iggy said, "because the modern Cinderella, Miss Maximum Ride, cannot stand having a pumpkin as a coach. She'd need to have the most sophisticated means of transport, for example, my limousine. I wonder what you left behind. A wing?"

She threw the pillow at him. He ducked. It missed. Blind guys are wonderful seers. They know where your punch/pillow might land before hand.

Suddenly, the two sisters started shrieking shrilly. Their mother had returned home from a visit to a friend's house and told them some really interesting news.

"The prince is coming to every household to see the backs of all the young ladies!"

"He must want to pick the one with the best back!"

"Ooh! I can't wait till they come to our house! I'm bound to snatch him!"

"No you're not! _I_ am. After all, I'm the slimmest young lady around." Max snorted at Tess' comment. She definitely _wasn't_ the slimmest young lady around. She was the _skinniest_ young lady around. So skinny that she looked like she had just returned from a hike in Africa, according to the prince.

Max felt a tug at her heart. So she wanted to see him again. Big deal. "Max," Angel suddenly warned.

"Alright. I will stop giving sarcastic remarks about anybody or anything," she said. Angel gave her a very smug look for a nine year old and pulled Max out of her bed. "Time you start washing the dishes to prepare for breakfast, and you're _not_ cooking."

--------------------------------------------

A week later, seeing that the castle and the house Max was living in were at the opposite ends of the country…

"Sir, this is the last household in the country. If she is not in here, you will have to abandon the search," Nick's right hand man told him. Nick sighed, one of his hands in his pocket fingering a velvet box containing something that he might never use at all, and knocked on the door.

A horse faced woman of about forty poked her face out. "Yes?" she said in an oily voice, a futile and useless attempt at impressing him.

"I'm here to look at the backs," Nick said awkwardly. The woman smiled at him, making him uncomfortable.

The moment he stepped into the house, two girls tackled him. Tess and Lissa. Good heavens. Can't he just find his mysterious partner in peace? Tess started unbuttoning the buttons at the back of her dress.

Hang on a moment, if Tess and Lissa lived here, wouldn't the girl be living in this house too?

"Stop that," Nick told Tess. Lissa stuck her tongue out at Tess, "I told you, you weren't who he wants. He wants _me_." With that, she started unbuttoning her dress' buttons too. Tess gazed sourly at her sister. Nick looked at Lissa and groaned.

"You too, stop that."

Lissa gave Nick the puppy face and pouted. He continued, "It's just not you."

Lissa and Tess both glared at each other with an I-told-he-doesn't-want-you look. Nick looked at the both of them, "Can I see your step sister? The seventeen year old one."

Both sisters stared at him. "But you don't want her. She didn't even go to the ball! And how did you know her? She can't be the lady in white. She's not pretty enough!"

"Yeah, how did you get to know her?" Tess said.

"Excuse me, ladies, just let me see her." Lissa and Tess put up a human barrier before the stairs. "You are _not_ going to see Max."

Max? Nick blinked. The girl he had met at the forest? At that, his heartbeat sped up. Suddenly, a voice floated down, "Someone mentioned my name?" He recognized that voice. He had heard it at the ball. It was her.

The forty year old woman with the oily voice snapped back, "No one called for you!" But too late. The girl, whom Nick assumed was Max, had already reached the foot of the stairs, and she seemed to be staring at him with shock, blood draining from her face, then she made a move to go back up the stairs.

But Nick wasn't ready to let her slip through his fingers this time. Almost blindly, he pushed Lissa and Tess until they were not blocking his path. The woman with the oily voice was screaming at the two girls, whom he took to be her biological children. He raced up the stairs and grabbed her hand.

"May I see your back?" Nick asked, and glancing around, he saw four pairs of curious eyes staring at them, one of them, belonging to the eldest boy, looked uncomfortably blank. The girl, Max, looked at the youngest of the four, a girl, and she (as in the youngest girl) nodded, a fierce look on her small face.

Max cast a furtive look at him and led him into her room, before shutting the door behind them. Then she looked at him, slightly worried. "I suppose if you see my back, you'd see these…too." Slowly, a pair of brown and white wings unfolded themselves from their neat position against her back through two slits cut so neatly that they could hardly be seen.

Nick's lips twitched. Max just stared at him, nonplussed. He pulled off his shirt, hearing her breath catch in her throat, and gradually, he unfolded his midnight black wings. He heard her gasp in shock, and then five words escaped his lips, "We've met, before the ball."

* * *

**A/N Ha! I like this ****chapter!**** Anyway, second last chapter, so sad.**


	6. Kids Will Have Their Own Kids

**A/N Last chapter, I should think.**** And I also think this chapter is WAY awkward****, and weird**

**Chapter 6**

"Are you sure?" Max asked. He looked kind of familiar, but she's sure she had never met him before the ball.

"You don't remember?" the prince asked. Then he bared his teeth and flapped his arms madly, just like he did almost seven years ago. Max's eyes widened.

"Fang?" she said softly, then burst out laughing, "It's been seven years and you still act like that!"

The prince, Fang/Nicholas, looked at her expectantly. "I'm sorry, your majesty!" Max said, blushing a little. "I really didn't know it was you. Pardon me for my lousy hospitability in the past. Can I just call you Fang?"

"It's fine with me. I just have one question," Prince Fang said. Mix giggled at the thought. _Prince_ _Fang_. That sounded weird, but whatever. Fang looked at her with a twisted face and she looked back at him with an apologetic face. He got down on one knee. Max's breath hitched in her throat.

He pulled out a black velvet box from his pocket and opened it. "Will you marry me?" he asked. Max gasped, even though she knew it was coming. Dreams were nothing compared to reality.

She's only knew him for…seven years? Seeing each other only for three days out of the seven years. But she already knew what she wanted.

She bent down and pulled him up, then planted a kiss on his lips. She felt him grin and she smiled back shyly, still kissing him. She brought her hands to his neck and pulled back, while he put his arms around her waist. She put her lips to his ear and whispered, "Yes."

He smiled and kissed her again, when a voice called out, "Hey! Keep it down, will you? Blind kid with really sensitive ears here!" Uh, oops. Max had forgotten to tell him about Iggy. Fang pulled back and looked confused, then Max said, "That's my brother, Iggy. We all have wings, and Ig's blind."

"Oh." Just then, Nudge, Angel, Iggy and Gazzy decided to burst into the room. "So do we get to make the sisters jealous?" Gazzy asked, before stopping short when he saw Fang's wings.

"You're a mutant too?" Gazzy asked bluntly. Fang nodded, slipping his hand from Max's waist to her hand, grasping it tightly. "Is he really?" Iggy said enthusiastically. "What mix?"

"Just like us," Angel replied shortly. "Max—"

"Hello," a voice said. Everyone spun around. "Hi! I'm Val, Max's fairy godmother." Fang stared from Val to Max, "Mutants have fairy godmothers?" Max shrugged. "Hi Val."

"Now what have I said about a special day for someone, hmm?" Val asked Max most smugly.

Max grinned and looked at her, "You're right." Then Val looked at Fang.

"Treat this young lady well. It's pretty obvious that she needs a change of clothes," she said. "And so does her family," she added as an afterthought as she inspected Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel. Then she clapped her hands.

"I've got it!" she cried gaily. "How about I give you guys a change of clothes first you can get to the palace without wearing those–those rags."

The kids all smiled at her, warming up to the idea of having clothes that were more than rags. Max looked at Fang nervously, "You're letting me bring them along, aren't you?"

"Yup, why not?" Fang said. Max smiled at him apologetically, "I hope they're not going to be a handful."

"Nah, it's fine," Fang said, "It gets pretty lonely in the palace after a while."

Val tapped her feet impatiently, "And when you're done with the talk, can I give you a change of clothes now?" Max grinned sheepishly as Val glared at her.

The fairy godmother waved her wand and a blinding flash of light filled the room, when it cleared, Angel was wearing a pink sundress with a matching pink headband over her now neatly combed blond hair. On her feet was a pair of pink ballet flats.

Gazzy was clad in a dark green t-shirt with the words 'Don't mess with this kid' written in white over it. He sported a pair of light brown khaki pants reaching his knees and a pair of lime green sneakers.

Nudge had on a bright orange polo tee from Puma and a pair of darker orange shorts. Her hair was for once uncharacteristically neat. She wore a pair of deep orange sandals.

Iggy sported a pair of dark glasses around his sightless eyes and a black shirt with a picture of a pointing finger and the words 'Stare if you Dare' over it. He wore dark grey three quarter khaki pants and a pair of black converse shoes.

Max was wearing the very same outfit she wore to the ball minus the mask. Val had also added a small crown tilted to the left of her head. She looked like a genuine princess. Fang sucked in a breath and Max blushed. His hand still hadn't left hers. He whispered into her ear, "You know, seeing you change from a peasant to a princess is more shock than just seeing you in your dress for the whole time?" This made Max's face heat up again, "But honestly, I prefer shorts to dresses." Fang smiled.

"You go on your way first. I'll send your stuff over soon after you arrive," Val said. Max mouthed 'thanks' and got whisked off by Fang down the stairs.

As they descended, Tess and Lissa gaped at Max. Behind the seventeen year old girl, Gazzy was grinning to himself, happy to be able to get back at them for once.

When Max reached the foot of the stairs still holding hands with Fang, the stepsisters glanced once at the couple and started apologizing profusely, "I'm sorry to treat you like that, Max!"

"I'm sorry we were so rude! We shouldn't have!"

But their mother just dragged them away just as Lissa shouted, "Will we become princesses if you marry him?" So that was what all the apologies were about. They just wanted the money and status. Fat hope.

Suddenly, Fang turned to face Max, "Is your name short for something? Maxine, maybe?"

"It _is_ short for something, but not Maxine. Argh, I hate that name. Maximum. My name is Maximum Ride."

"You know what; your name does fit you. You're the maximum I could ever have." Max blushed furiously, hating the fact that it was an open show for the rest of the flock.

Max smiled as they neared the car that belonged to Fang. It looked just like the car she had taken from Iggy. "Say, Max, isn't this that toy car of Ig's?" Gazzy asked, surprised.

"I seriously doubt that, Gaz," Max muttered back. The kids plus Iggy cramped together in the back while Max sat on Fang's lap in the front seat. The chauffer looked at all of them weirdly but just did his job and drove them straight to the palace. After a day of driving, they settled in a hotel and continued their journey the next day.

---------------------------------------------------

"Father, mother, this is my fiancé, Max, short for Maximum. She calls me Fang," Fang said nervously, wondering how they'd react.

"Hello!" the king said happily, then winked at Max, saying in a harsh but quite loud tone, probably intending everyone in that room to hear him, "I hope I'd be able to hold my grandson soon." Then he winked again as Max flushed.

"I'll try," Max replied, trying hard to ignore the snickers of Iggy and the Gasman, and failing horribly. To make up for that, she smacked both of their heads.

The queen chuckled and told the engaged prince, "I like your choice of girls."

Fang just smiled his own mysterious smile.

---------------------------------------------

Fang squeezed his wife's hand, "They'll be here soon, honey, just hang on a little longer."

Max was in labor already even though it's only been twenty weeks, not the usual gestation period of forty. Maybe that avian DNA was at work, making it shorter. All he hoped was that his wife wasn't going to lay an egg.

"The doctors will be here soon. Just a little longer."

"I can't!" Max shrieked. Max could usually control herself, but if she had started screaming like that, Fang didn't want to think how pain it was.

Suddenly, the doors to the room burst open and a team of doctors **(A/N: If anybody knows the name of the doctors who deliver babies, tell me please.)** rushed into the room, surrounding the bed Max was on.

Max's forehead was glistening with sweat, and her grip on his hand was so strong that he felt his bones might break. But he didn't let it show. All for Max.

"Max, just push. Push to your maximum ability," Fang said, and the royal couple shared a weak chuckle before one of the doctors called out, "I can see the head"

The head was out. "C'mon, Max, you can do this. I know you can. You've been through much worse in the School before."

Max gave another push and a doctor announced, "Hands coming out!" Fang gave Max an encouraging smile even though his hand felt like shriveling up from under Max's incredibly strong grip.

He kissed her wet cheek. "One more," he whispered into her ear. Max looked at his face, so full of hope, and complied. Finally, after a few more pushes, the baby was out.

Overjoyed, Fang kissed Max right on the lips. "Well done, my love." Max managed a weak smile before falling asleep due to exhaustion. One of the doctors handed over the newborn.

"What are…these?" he asked, pointing to the two things at the back of the baby, which were flapping slowly, drying themselves.

Fang looked at them proudly. "They're wings," he told the surprised doctor, who then gave his congratulations and winked at the baby. "A healthy little boy you got there."

Fang smiled back, an action still new to him even though he had been doing it for the past three years since he proposed.

And he was glad Max didn't lay an egg.

-----------------------------------------------

"Jake, you will _have_ to find a bride by your coming birthday!" the thirty-seven year old king told his son, the very same line that his _own_ father and mother had used on him for countless of times when he was sixteen going on seventeen.

"I know, father, but I don't want to marry those tweaks out there! I want to be able to choose who I want!"

The king wiggled his eyebrows, "And do you have anyone in mind?"

Jake flushed unwillingly. Fang winked at the queen, his wife. Max winked back and said, "And do we have the pleasure of inviting her to our castle?"

Muttering, Jake bowed his head to avoid letting his parents see his increasingly red face, "Maybe, maybe not."

"Well, and just who is she?" Max enquired.

"A girl I met in the forest nearby almost seven years ago," Jake muttered, still too embarrassed to lift his head.

Max raised an eyebrow and looked over at her husband. It was uncannily similar to how Fang had met her.

"Can you invite her over for dinner?" Fang asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," came the monotonous reply. "I'm meeting her later."

"Well, then that's settled," Max said happily. "Now cover up your wings before the servants start screaming."

Jake looked at his mother, who instead of scolding him for not picking a rich lady was encouraging him to pick a peasant. "Mother, why—?"

Max smiled warmly at him, "I was a peasant once too, you could say. Ask your father." Jake looked at his parents in disbelieve, then pulled on a sweater to cover his black with white stripes wings.

"Well, I just hope you like her," Jake muttered as he walked out of his room to meet his might-be future wife.

Back in his room, his parents smiled to themselves. Somehow, this time, they didn't need to hold a ball to find the right girl.

---------------

Later that night…

"Father, mother, this is Sam, short for Samantha," Jake told his parents. Max mused at how alike Jake and Fang were, introducing a girl to their parents in the same style. Seeing Sam gaze in awe at the palace and her shock at seeing both the king and queen, Max inferred that her son hadn't told her a thing about his royalty.

Fang looked at Jake, "Huh, so I'm not supposed to expect a new occupant for this gigantic building?" Meaning the absence of 'this is my fiancé'.

Jake flushed again. Then again, Max mused at how _un_alike father and son were. Fang never blushed before. Well, he had, but only after he had gotten her. Max seriously doubted Jake had told Sam he liked her yet.

Sam looked confused, but Max just said, "I'll leave it to Jake to tell you about it." She winked at her only child, whose face grew to a deeper shade of red until it was almost maroon.

Sam raised an eyebrow at Jake, who, if possible, blushed even redder, then whispered something in her ear, which made them both blush. Which was pretty much impossible for Jake already.

Then she whispered something back to Jake, whose face lit up immediately and kissed her hard on the lips, hugging her like there was no tomorrow in the process, and Sam hugged back. Fang and Max both smiled at each other, glad to have their son find his girl before his birthday, unlike his father.

"So I take we're just upgrading Jake's bed to a king?" Fang said.

The young couple blushed, just when Jake's red face had just receded.

"That's quite alright, I should think," Max chuckled.

Then Sam looked uncomfortable. "I suppose, if we _do_ become family, I'll have to show you these." Slowly, a pair of brown and black spotted wings unfolded themselves from behind her.

She bowed her head, as if expecting the royal family to reject her, but when they didn't gasp in shock or start shouting at her, she looked up. They were all grinning.

"Huh?"

One by one, the blue blooded human avian hybrids spread their wings. Sam gaped at them, and then grinned, "I guess I fit in then."

"I guess you do too," Max smiled kindly, "Meanwhile, I'll get someone to change Jake's bed…"

Jake shot a glare at his mother and they all laughed.

* * *

**A/N The end.**** Sniff. I had such a fun time typing this.**** But anyway, check out my other stories!**


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